2017

FALL 2017:ALL THEATER GAMES, ALL THE TIMEWith costumes, props, and fun!A Creative Performing Arts Workshop led by Dawn HoltanCalling all playful actors and creative improvisers! Do you like theater games? Is your favorite part of any acting workshop the improv explorations? Come join us! We will play lots and lots of theater games together, and look at what makes them fun and how they improve our acting skills. Then, as a group, we will invent and play our own theater games! We will work with simple props and costumes to help us further ignite our imaginations and expand our improv abilities. We will share our games with family and friends during our last meeting.Participants must be able to improvise, play theater games, listen to each other, follow directions, work independently and with others, and be excited about creating new theater games together.

DIY EXCAVATION KITSCollect treasures. Make mud & bury treasures. Take excavation kit home. Dig it all out.A Creative Science Exploration Workshop led by Dawn Holtan
Plaster of paris. Grout. Oobleck. Play sand. What materials will make the best excavation kits? Why? We’ll use a new recipe each week, and experiment with our own ideas at our final meeting. Participants are welcome to bring their own treasures to bury, to use found objects at the local parks where we make our kits, or to choose treasures from our collection of small plastic toys, figures, beads, and more.Participants must be able to listen to each other, follow directions, share materials and tools, work independently and with others, and be excited about creating their own excavation kits.

WRITING WORKSHOPInvitation Only.Creative Language Arts Workshop led by Dawn Holtan
We will draw, write, talk, and support each other as we create our own unique stories and role-playing games.Participants must be able to follow directions, work independently and with others, read and write, and be able to give encouragement and feedback to other writers.

PUPPETRY THEATER MAKE-A-PLAYA collaboration with Rose Hill Studio’s Samantha Cook. Make the puppets. Make the play.A Creative Visual & Performing Arts Workshop led by Dawn Holtan & Samantha CookCalling all crafty, creative puppeteers!Our Spring Marionette class was so fantastically successful that, by kid demand, we are holding another session of Puppetry! From start to finish, this class will include creating your own puppet character(s) from scratch, learn to manipulate and move your puppet, build a theater, learn how to write a play, and produce a performance featuring your script and marionette! This class is perfect for kids attracted to theater but shy about being on stage, as well as more seasoned actors. This collaborative class will also cover a holistic view of puppetry, the history of marionettes and puppetry, and a keen understanding of materials and skills.
Co-facilitated by Dawn Holtan and Samantha Cook of Rose Hill Studios.Participants must be able to follow directions, listen to each other, work independently and with others, and be excited about creating original puppet theater performances together.

SPRING 2017:SCIENCE: SPARKING THE IMAGINATIONCreative Science Exploration Workshop led by Dawn HoltanCalling all curious creative thinkers! How does stuff work? We will use the scientific method to come up with our own ideas, and then rigorously test them and share our findings. Each participant will choose an area of focus, and will conduct research to find out what is already known. Then, everyone will come up with their own questions and create their own hypotheses. We will test those hypotheses, refine our questions, and test some more! All of our research will be driven by the participants, based on natural curiosity and the outcomes of our experiments.Participants must be able to observe phenomena, conduct online and library research, think up interesting questions, create ways to test their ideas, listen to each other, follow directions, work independently and with others, and be excited about spending time in nature.

WRITING: SCIENCE FICTIONCreative Language Arts Workshop led by Dawn HoltanCalling all writers with wacky imaginations!Do you love a good science fiction story? Do you dream about mutant super heroes? Alien invasions? Alternate realities? Spaceship battles? Sentient animals? Populating Mars? Zombies? Dystopian futures?
Immerse with us! We will draw, write, talk, and support each other as we create our own unique science fiction stories. We will play draw and play games to get our imaginations going, and then we will write. Whether you do all of your writing while we’re together, or take your work home with you and flesh it out on your own time, everyone will write their own science fiction.Participants must be able to follow directions, work independently and with others, read and write (or have an available literate assistant willing to take dictation), be able to give encouragement and feedback to other writers, and be excited about writing their own science fiction stories.

ALL THEATER GAMES, ALL THE TIMEWith costumes, props, and fun!A Creative Performing Arts Workshop led by Dawn HoltanCalling all playful actors and creative improvisers! Do you like theater games? Is your favorite part of any acting workshop the improv explorations? Come join us! We will play lots and lots of theater games together, and look at what makes them fun and how they improve our acting skills. Then, as a group, we will invent and play our own theater games! We will work with simple props and costumes to help us further ignite our imaginations and expand our improv abilities. We will share our games with family and friends during our last meeting.Participants must be able to improvise, play theater games, listen to each other, follow directions, work independently and with others, and be excited about creating new theater games together.

MARIONETTE PUPPET THEATER MAKE-A-PLAYA collaboration with Rose Hill Studio’s Samantha Cook. Make the puppets. Make the play.A Creative Visual & Performing Arts Workshop led by Dawn Holtan & Samantha CookCalling all marionette puppeteers!From start to finish, create your own marionette puppet character(s) from scratch, learn to manipulate and move your puppet, build a theater, learn how to write a play, and produce a performance featuring your script and marionette! This class is perfect for kids attracted to theater but shy about being on stage, as well as more seasoned actors. This collaborative class will also cover a holistic view of puppetry, the history of marionettes and puppetry, and a keen understanding of materials and skills. Co-facilitated by Dawn Holtan and Samantha Cook of Rose Hill Studios.We will share our marionette plays in performance after our last class.Participants must be able to follow directions, listen to each other, work independently and with others, and be excited about creating original marionette puppet theater performances together.

WINTER 2017:ALL THEATER GAMES, ALL THE TIME #2New & improved—with costumes, props, and fun!A Creative Performing Arts Workshop led by Dawn HoltanCalling all playful actors and creative improvisers! Do you like theater games? Is your favorite part of any acting workshop the improv explorations? Come join us! We will play lots and lots of theater games together, and look at what makes them fun and how they improve our acting skills. Then, as a group, we will invent and play our own theater games! We will work with simple props and costumes to help us further ignite our imaginations and expand our improv abilities. We will share our games with family and friends during our last meeting.Participants must be able to improvise, play theater games, listen to each other, follow directions, work independently and with others, and be excited about creating new theater games together.

SCIENTISTS: ASKING QUESTIONS, FINDING ANSWERSExplore. Hypothesize. Test ideas. Share results.A Creative Science Exploration Workshop led by Dawn HoltanCalling all curious biological scientists! How do plants grow? What do pill bugs like to eat? How strong is a spiderweb? We will use the scientific method to come up with our own ideas, and then rigorously test them and share our findings. We will start by observing nature in local parks, including Shorebird, the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden, and others. Each participant will choose an area of focus, and will conduct research to find out what is already known. Then, everyone will come up with their own questions and create their our own hypotheses. We will test those hypotheses, refine our questions, and test some more! All of our research will be driven by the participants, based on our explorations in local parks and natural settings. Participants must be able to observe natural phenomena, conduct online and library research, think up interesting questions, create ways to test their ideas, listen to each other, follow directions, work independently and with others, and be excited about spending time in nature.

1930-1950: ENTERING & EXITING WWIIImmerse in the history. Write your story. Share it with the world.A Creative Writing & History Workshop led by Dawn HoltanCalling all writers and historians! We will delve into the history of 1930-1950, including World War II. We will begin with field trips to the Oakland Museum and the Rosie the Riveter Park Sites in Richmond, and continue our research at local libraries and online. We will use our own families’ oral histories, as well as books, documentaries, video games and other media to explore this important historical time. Each participant will choose their own independent areas of focus. We will look at diverse sources of information, and hone our fact-checking skills. We will explore poetics, storytelling and character development as we create original fiction rooted in the history of the 1930s and 1940s. Participants must be able to follow directions, work independently and with others, read and write (or have an available literate assistant willing to take dictation), and be excited about creating fiction rooted in the history of 1930-1950.